davetheflyer
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Which old witch?
The MESA witch!
(No offense John T.)
For those who havn't heard (and who care), Mesa has officially withdrawn its offer for ACA. It looks extremely likely at this point that we'll be seeing Independence Air A320s at IAD. Woo hoo!
Mesa's Bid for Atlantic Dies
By Eric Gillin
Staff Reporter
12/23/2003 10:46 AM EST
Click here for more stories by Eric Gillin
Mesa Airlines' (MESA:Nasdaq - commentary - research) unsolicited $525 million bid to take over Atlantic Coast Airlines (ACAI:Nasdaq - commentary - research) ended Tuesday.
Mesa's bid to create the world's largest regional carrier failed after mounting antitrust concerns caused United Airlines parent UAL (UALAQ:Nasdaq - commentary - research) to back out of a memorandum of understanding with Mesa.
Late Monday, United said it would be canceling its memorandum of understanding to have a combined Mesa and ACA fly as a regional partner from its Dulles hub in Washington D.C. Under the memorandum, if Mesa were successful in its unsolicited bid for ACA, the company would be paid to fly as a United Express partner. But without this deal to fly for United, Mesa said it would be ending its bid.
"While we continue to believe the combination of Mesa and Atlantic Coast is in the best interests of the shareholders of both companies and we disagree with the court's antitrust conclusions, we understand United's decision and appreciate their need to move forward with plans to maintain service in their Dulles hub without the service of Atlantic Coast Airlines," said Jonathan Ornstein, Mesa's chairman and chief executive.
The beginning of the end of the deal came last week, when a pair of court rulings turned up the legal and political heat.
Late Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer issued a temporary injunction, delaying Mesa's chance to have ACA's shareholders vote to replace ACA's board with members friendlier to the unsolicited offer. This was followed by an announcement from the Department of Justice, which said it had opened an antitrust investigation into Mesa's takeover bid, scrutinizing the relationship between UAL and Mesa to see if the pair colluded to thwart ACA's plan to become a low-cost carrier called Independence Air.
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The MESA witch!
(No offense John T.)
For those who havn't heard (and who care), Mesa has officially withdrawn its offer for ACA. It looks extremely likely at this point that we'll be seeing Independence Air A320s at IAD. Woo hoo!
Mesa's Bid for Atlantic Dies
By Eric Gillin
Staff Reporter
12/23/2003 10:46 AM EST
Click here for more stories by Eric Gillin
Mesa Airlines' (MESA:Nasdaq - commentary - research) unsolicited $525 million bid to take over Atlantic Coast Airlines (ACAI:Nasdaq - commentary - research) ended Tuesday.
Mesa's bid to create the world's largest regional carrier failed after mounting antitrust concerns caused United Airlines parent UAL (UALAQ:Nasdaq - commentary - research) to back out of a memorandum of understanding with Mesa.
Late Monday, United said it would be canceling its memorandum of understanding to have a combined Mesa and ACA fly as a regional partner from its Dulles hub in Washington D.C. Under the memorandum, if Mesa were successful in its unsolicited bid for ACA, the company would be paid to fly as a United Express partner. But without this deal to fly for United, Mesa said it would be ending its bid.
"While we continue to believe the combination of Mesa and Atlantic Coast is in the best interests of the shareholders of both companies and we disagree with the court's antitrust conclusions, we understand United's decision and appreciate their need to move forward with plans to maintain service in their Dulles hub without the service of Atlantic Coast Airlines," said Jonathan Ornstein, Mesa's chairman and chief executive.
The beginning of the end of the deal came last week, when a pair of court rulings turned up the legal and political heat.
Late Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer issued a temporary injunction, delaying Mesa's chance to have ACA's shareholders vote to replace ACA's board with members friendlier to the unsolicited offer. This was followed by an announcement from the Department of Justice, which said it had opened an antitrust investigation into Mesa's takeover bid, scrutinizing the relationship between UAL and Mesa to see if the pair colluded to thwart ACA's plan to become a low-cost carrier called Independence Air.
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